Coronation Street Episode 0001
Episode 0001 is the first ever episode of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street. It premiered live on December 9th, 1960; and has been rebroadcast at various times since then as a part of special anniversary episodes. It introduces the denizens of the eponymously named street, located in a fictional borough of Greater Manchester called Weatherfield. Life on the Street When we first clap eyes on the series for the very first time, we see two little girls playing a chanting game outside of the Corner Shop located at Number 15 Coronation Street. The store is at the corner of Coronation Street and Viaduct Street. Coronation Street is a cobblestoned street which is located in the (fictional) borough of Weatherfield, which is a part of Greater Manchester. Weatherfield, a suburb closely aligned with the textile industry, is based on the real-life area of Manchester called Salford, itself a textile center back in the day. A mature widowed lady named Elsie Lappin (Maudie Edwards) comes outside to help a young boy get a gumball out of the dispenser as the two girls continue their chanting game. She then looks at the sign on the door which says, "Elsie Lappin, Licensed to Sell Tobacco". However, that would all soon change, as she no longer runs the Corner Shop. Having recently retired, she enters the store and talks to a woman who has become her protegee and her successor. The woman is named Florence Lena Lindley (Betty Alberge), a newcomer to the street who has taken over from Elsie. A former barmaid at the Farrier's Arms, a pub located nearby, Florrie (as she is called), who is also widowed, explains to Elsie (who said that she was surprised when her daughter, Shelagh Foyle, told her that she wanted the corner shop and not a pub) that she would rather run a Corner Shop than a pub. A pub wasn't what she wanted, but she loved running a small little shop like a corner shop. Elsie explains about the Patent-Medicine man coming on Thursdays and to beware of him, because he could "sell sand to the Arabs", and also about what customers she should be equally wary of. Namely the Tanner family who lived two doors down from the store at Number 11. She also explains that to put a little bit of items on the slate wasn't a bad thing, because if there wasn't, they wouldn't buy nearly as much as they did. In fact, Elsie warned Florrie about the Tanners specifically, telling her not to let them go one penny over ten bob on the slate, because if that happened, "you'd not hear sight or sound of them from one week's end to the next." Just as Elsie said that, a charming young woman named Linda Cheveski (Anne Cunningham) comes in, returning some empty bottles and needing a quarter ounce of boiled ham. Elsie introduces her as Linda Cheveski, "Linda Tanner that was." Florrie acknowledges her and Elsie asks her if she has returned to where she's from yet? Linda says no. Meanwhile, in said Number 11, Linda's mother, Elsie Tanner (Patricia Phoenix) and her recently released from prison son, Dennis (Phillip Lowrie) are arguing about two bob which has somehow gone missing from her purse, and Dennis' refusal to get a job after his release. He counters by saying the experience he has isn't the experience the more respectable employers want, given his criminal record, which prevents him from finding decent work. Then they continue by Elsie making comparisons to Kenneth Barlow, their down the street neighbor who lives in Number 3. Elsie brags about his smarts and how his family and he didn't seem to be rowing with them all the time. However, at the very same Number 3, a different row is beginning to brew. Ida Barlow (Noel Dyson), comes in bringing the evening tea meal where her son, Ken (William Roache) and her husband, postal worker Frank Barlow (Frank Pemberton) are sitting and eating. Ida, a kitchen worker at the Imperial Hotel (one of the grand hotels in Manchester), is trying to stop the two men from combating. Frank seems to love making digs at Ken, because he thinks that being in University (the University of Manchester) has made him into quite a snob. Ida, not listening, is wondering where their youngest son, David (Alan Rothwell), an apprentice mechanic, is. Ken shocks his parents by announcing that he is going to meet a girl named Susan Cunningham at the Imperial Hotel, which aggravates Frank, who refuses to let Ken go there due to Ida working there (Ida worked in the hotel's kitchens). A despondent Ken goes down to the Rovers Return, the local pub, which is located on the corner of Coronation Street and Rosamund Street (Rosamund Street is the street which takes one into Manchester proper, from Weatherfield). He goes in and is greeted by the pub's rather grand landlady Annie Walker (Doris Speed). The former Annie Beaumont of Clitheroe is a somewhat posh woman who sees Ken as kind of a kindred spirit and doesn't disguise the fact that she is in like mind with Ken. She is rather more intellectual than some of the other residents of the street and appreciates Ken's winning of a scholarship to the University of Manchester. Dennis also was in the pub and wanted a drink and cigarettes. Annie denied him credit on the cigarettes. Ken, feeling sorry for Dennis, gives him a packet of cigarettes. Annie gently admonishes him for it, as she feels that Ken shouldn't even bother to help Dennis. Meanwhile, Elsie, distracted from her reverie (she could be rather vain at times, always putting on her makeup), harshly scolds local kid Christine Farrar (voiced by Jennifer Moss) who calls her an old bag (screaming at her, "Make me leave, you silly old bag!") and knocks over her rubbish bin. Elsie seems to be more annoyed when kids play around her back end, and is considered, by many, to be the original "Get off my lawn" lady. Then Linda comes home and reveals to her that it was SHE who had taken the two bob, and not Dennis. This sets Elsie to giving Linda the business, after realizing she accused the wrong person. Linda then reveals that she is staying with her family after a fight with her husband, Ivan. Elsie tries to understand, but she doesn't as it was no secret that her husband, Arnold, had left her over 15 years before. Later on, down at the Corner Shop, Elsie and Florrie are discussing where the former is moving to. She is moving to Knott's End, where she has bought a bungalow. At first Florrie doesn't understand the allure (as she thought the place was rather bleak), but Elsie helps her see that nobody could ever say that she had earned it. Then she asks her if she had any tea. Florrie replied that she used up what she had at home, as she felt that it would be daft for her to bring tea when she was coming into a whole shop full of it. Elsie smiles and has her get a packet and she goes and puts kettle on, encouraging Florrie, "You'll be all right on your own, they won't eat ye, ye know." A second later, a formidable older woman barrels into the shop. This formidable specimen is called Ena Sharples (Violet Carson) and we get our first look at one of the more formidable battle-axes on the street! She is the caretaker at the Glad Tidings Mission Hall, across the street, where she lives rent-free in exchange for her caretaking. Ena begins to grill the newcomer making her very uncomfortable, all the while she barks for her to get some products that she needs. She buys baking powder; a half-dozen of fancies (with no eclairs) a bottle of bleach (all the while she is blasting off on Esmeralda Street {the street Florrie moved from}, her being a widow, her religion, or her place of being buried); and then she starts a quarrel with Elsie over a bad egg. She storms out, demanding her purchase being put on the slate, with Florrie laughing with Elsie saying, "Is she morbid?" Meanwhile, at Number 3. Frank and David are taking apart his tyre on his bicycle. Ken, mercifully is over next door at Albert Tatlock (Jack Howarth)'s home, who is a close friend of the family. Frank bemoans again about Ken being better than he is; also slipping a little dig in about Albert Tatlock, which is slapped down by Ida, saying that he was all right. Even Albert gently admonishes Ken by saying that his being at the University had made him an insufferable snob. However, Ken's mother, Ida, comes in and announces that the girl he was waiting for had appeared. A few minutes later, a young woman came over. It was Susan Cunningham (Patricia Shakesby), the girl who was to meet Ken at the Imperial but never showed up. She and David knew a mechanic that they both did not like, and shook hands. Then Ken comes in, and sees Susan. They exchange greetings as the theme begins and the end credits roll. TRIVIA This was the first ever episode of the series, and of all the characters introduced, only Ken Barlow (still played by William Roache) remains and is considered the Elder Statesman of the Square. Susan Cunningham (Patricia Shakesby) would be hearkened back to when it was revealed that she and Ken had a son, who had a son of his own, many years later. The two roles were played by William Roache's real life sons. One of the earlier stories was how Ken was perceived by his working-class neighbors as being somewhat snobby due to his being at Uni, but it would be in a later story that Frank, who had been widowed when Ida was killed by a city bus, would win the Premium Bonds, buy a new house in a town called Bramhall (which was a far tonier area than Coronation Street), and would become the same thing he accused Ken of, only far worse. He would then scorn Coronation Street (announcing it was only fit for being demolished) and sneered down his nose on everyone in it. This act of snobbery would lead up to a brawl in the pub with Len Fairclough (Peter Adamson) who also once busted Ken one after misconstruing an article he wrote (only Annie Walker and Elsie Tanner knew what Ken was talking about in the article, and everyone else WAS being ignorant)! Category:Coronation Street episodes